Miller-Digby Trophy winner Terrelle Pryor passed for 221 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 115.

Dan Herron rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown, DeVier Posey caught three passes for 70 yards and a score, and offensive tackle Mike Smith helped Ohio State amass 446 yards and keep Pryor from being sacked, although Pryor did a pretty good job escaping the backfield on his own.

Then, backup defensive end Solomon Thomas came up with the game-clinching interception.

It can be argued whether the punishment fit the crime, or if there was a crime committed. One can argue whether the players really had to be told what they’d done was against NCAA rules. Or whether what the $7,500 in goods and services, mostly for discounted tattoos, the players received was just the tip of the iceberg. And one can argue the merits of Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney, Sugar Bowl Chief Executive Officer Paul Hoolahan and, for all we know, the ghost of Woody Hayes successfully lobbying the NCAA to use an obscure loophole to not include the bowl game in the suspensions in exchange for the non-binding promise for the perpetrators not to enter the NFL draft.

Bottom line: If those player were left back in Columbus, the Buckeyes wouldn’t have won.

After appearing to be less than contrite when he met the media Saturday, Pryor was properly more so after the game, repeating his promise to return for his senior year and apologizing on the victory podium. “I have a lot of growing up to do,” he later said, adding he hopes the NCAA is “nice” when considering his appeal.

Two other postgame images stand out — Pryor being helped to that victory podium by teammates after injuring his foot in the fourth quarter. Some had indicated they were less than enamored about Pryor’s diva-like actions.

And Pryor greeting fans in the stands before exiting the playing field.

Nice pictures.

But somehow, one gets the feeling this may not have a nice ending.

Conversely, Arkansas could’ve come away with a victory and had a happy ending in its first BCS bowl game, but uncharacteristically went conservative, which cuts against the grain for Coach Bobby Petrino.

Trailing 28-7 four seconds before halftime and with the ball at the Ohio State 3, Petrino chose a field goal rather than going for the touchdown.

This was despite his team having given up 338 first-half yards and Ohio State getting the second-half kickoff.

Apparently, Petrino thought it was easier catching up three points at a time rather than seven.

That’s because on the Razorbacks’ first possession of the second half, facing third-and-10 from the Ohio State 32, he ran Knile Davis on a draw play that gained 3 yards. A fourth-down attempt wouldn’t have been a bad idea, but again, Petrino took the three.

In the fourth quarter, on third-and-12 from the Buckeyes’ 30, Mallett threw incomplete.

Finally, after Colton Miles-Nash’s blocked punt gave Arkansas one last chance at the Ohio State 17, Mallett twice threw short, getting picked off by Thomas on the second one.

A bold, attacking offense got the Razorbacks to the Sugar Bowl. The lack of one helped them lose in it.

HIGH COTTON: It’s been an underrated season for LSU, but the Tigers are 10-2 and will have yet another top-10 showing under Les Miles by beating Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl.

The Tigers present the best defense the Aggies have faced, and with Stevan Ridley back in academic good graces, LSU should control the ball in a relatively easy victory. Let’s call it 33-10.

Going forward, the Tigers should be favored in the SEC West, and that puts them in the national title hunt again — with or without Miles.

Speaking of which, Michigan finally ended the Rich Rodriguez fiasco Wednesday morning, and unless Jim Harbaugh decides he’d rather return to his alma mater rather than choose an NFL job, Miles has to be next, if not first in line.

Just as it wasn’t three years ago, this time, the time is right.

Miles has won a national championship at LSU, and his teams have averaged 10 victories in his five seasons.

He attracts top-five recruiting classes, and players love playing for him. They generally stay out of legal and NCAA jams, as well.

And yet, a vocal portion of the fan base considers him a buffoon.

The chancellor and athletic director who hired him are gone.

The SEC West is only going to get stronger. Heck, Mississippi State won a New Year’s Day game, routing Michigan 52-14 in the Gator Bowl.

There’s rebuilding to do at Michigan, but how strong, really, is the Big Ten after Ohio State?

The money would be there, too.

Miles is 57. The Michigan job won’t come open again until he’s past 60.

If you were Miles, what would you do?

BCS TITLE GAME PICK: Regardless of what his father did and how much he knew or didn’t know about it, Cam Newton may have had the best season in college football history. He’ll cap it by leading Auburn past Oregon in the biggest shootout they’ve seen in Arizona since Wyatt Earp and the boys at the OK Corral. Auburn 55, Oregon 47.

LOOKING AHEAD: A year from now, New Orleans will be hosting the Sugar Bowl and the BCS championship game in a week’s span.

The city pulled it off last time with its usual ability to handle big events.

The most enlightening quote we heard all week was a first-time visitor from Arkansas telling his father over the phone, “I never thought food could taste so good.” Visitors love coming to New Orleans for things we too often take for granted, and the Sugar Bowl’s ability to draw tens of thousands of them every year also is too often taken for granted.

This could be the last time around for the BCS’ double-hosting format, if the wizards who run college football’s postseason move toward some semblance of a playoff.

“Four years ago, I would have said, ‘No way this survives for another round,’” Hoolahan said. “It just depends on who’s at the table making the decisions.”

One might hope that when the 11 conference commissioners who run the BCS hold their annual meeting in New Orleans in April, a clear course of action would be in sight.

But the history has been that such a move is another year away.

And if history is also a guide, anytime there is indecision in sports, there is inaction.